The Karekare Surf Life Saving Patrol maintains an active patrol at the beach in the weekends and on public holidays from Labour Weekend to Easter each year.

During this season, Lifeguards provide a voluntary service that is mainly preventative in nature, encouraging beach users to swim in the safer regions of the beach (i.e., between the flags). However, lifeguards also respond to a wide variety of emergency situations.
The duties lifeguards at Karekare perform include:

• providing a patrolled area for swimmers,
• preventing people from getting into trouble by educating them about the surf and its dangers,
• rescuing fisherman, surfers and swimmers who get into difficulties,
• searching for missing persons and administering first aid and advanced emergency care,
• attending after hours call-outs, and
• protecting the shellfish beds.

The KKSLSP also runs a Junior Surf Programme for children aged from 7 to 14 years. In this programme children learn basic lifeguarding skills in a safe and fun environment.

The Place

Karekare is a small community and popular recreational destination on Auckland's West Coast, approximately 40km from Auckland's City Centre. The beach is part of a rugged coastline surrounded almost entirely by Auckland Regional Parkland. Popular activities in the area include swimming, tramping, fishing, horse riding, surfing, abseiling, parapenting, and running. Karekare has been classified the fourth most dangerous beach for swimming in New Zealand.

Take up the Challenge and Become a Lifeguard at Karekare

Being part of the Karekare Surf Lifesaving Club is lots of fun and can provided some of the most rewarding experiences of a person's life. There are enormous opportunities to learn new things and to further develop your talents and abilities in a supportive environment. Through being a member of the Club you meet all sorts of interesting people and can make life-long friends.

The People

The Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol is a friendly, family-oriented organisation. The Club has around 100 active members and a junior surf lifeguard squad for young people aged from 10-14 years.

Club members work together as part of a team and are encouraged to develop leadership, administrative and management skills in a supportive environment.

The Club has numerous social events throughout the year, including an annual surfing and fishing contest. You may also like to become involved in Surf Lifesaving competitions and compete against other surf clubs in the Auckland region and in New Zealand. On quiet days at the beach lifeguards play volleyball and other sports and have all sorts of interesting adventures.

Through becoming a volunteer lifeguard there is also the opportunity to work as a paid lifeguard over the summer school holiday period or/and as a beach education instructor, teaching school children about surf safety.

Almost anyone can become a lifeguard and/or member of the Club and you don't have to be super-fit or even be able to swim in the surf to make a valuable contribution. Some of the areas in which you might like to contribute are:

• Beach management and public relations (i.e., ensuring the flags are correctly located, watching the beach and warning people of dangers),
• Carrying out rescues (i.e., swimming, driving boats, paddling boards),
• Incident management (i.e., coordinating emergency situations),
• First aid and resuscitation,
• Radio operation,
• Club management and administration, and
• Organisation of social events and competitions.

You may also be able to contribute to the Club through a professional skill (i.e., screen printing, graphic design, legal skills, engineering skills, photography, fundraising etc) skill you have that is useful to the Club.

If you would like to join the Club (even just thinking about it) please contact the Club's secretary Shalema Wanden-Hannay:
Shalema Wanden-Hannay PO Box 21 636 Henderson
Ph: 8128 788 or e-mail: secretary@karekaresurfclub.org.nz

You can also approach the lifeguards on duty, introduce yourself and let them know you are thinking about joining, ask them any questions you have, and get them to show you around. Or if you know someone in the Club let them know you are interested in joining and tag along with them to a few patrols or social events. You still need to make sure the secretary has your contact details so you can receive a copy of the Club's newsletter and be put on the address list (and patrol roster if you are keen to become involved in active lifeguarding).

Make a donation

The demands made on lifeguards are increasing as the population of Auckland grows and the West Coast becomes an ever-more popular tourist destination. Donations enable the Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol to continue to grow and develop and meet the increasing demands placed on the service.

You can make a donation by sending a cheque to:

Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol
PO Box 34
Piha

Or by contacting the Club's secretary:

Shalema Wanden-Hannay

Ph: 8128 788 or e-mail: secretary@karekaresurfclub.org.nz

We would love to hear from you if you would like to contribute to the Club through a professional skill you have or through a business service you provide (i.e., screen printing, graphic design, legal skills, engineering skills, photography, fundraising, photocopying and printing services).

Use the Clubhouse

If you are interested in using the clubhouse please contact the Clubhouse Director, Phil Parks, on 812 8911 or e-mail: ppkk@mac.com

A Brief History of the Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol

The Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol started in 1935 after a dramatic sea plane rescue in Karekare. A group from the Manukau Amateur Cycling Club, who were present at the plane rescue asked the Piha Surf Club for advice, and started to form the Karekare Surf Lifesaving Patrol.

In the early days teaching and training of new members was the key focus and over time the KKSLSP began to compete in surf carnivals. A local family allowed the KKSLSP to use their tennis changing sheds and some rooms at the base of the Watchman as the surf clubhouse.

In 1939, the war brought changes, and the surf club went into recess as members went off to war to do their duty. During this time the club bus was parked permanently in Karekare, without wheels, in case the Japanese invaded via the coast.

The KKSLSP built a gear shed on a rock in the centre of the beach in the late 1940's, all that remains are now almost covered by moving sand dunes.

The current clubhouse opened in 1982 and has space for 30 bunk beds, with areas to store rescue boats and equipment, and all the modern first aid apparatus such as oxygen and defibrillators, to give fast medical attention in the quickest time possible.

Karekare is one of the most dangerous places to swim in New Zealand. This has lead to the KKSLSP being awarded the most meritorious rescue awards of any Lifesaving Club in New Zealand. The KKSLSP also prides itself on having very high patrolling standards and constantly having the highest preventative rescue statistics relative to the number of people that use the beach.

Over the period of the KKSLSP existence more than 5,000 people have been rescued at Karekare beach.
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